ircumstances, with the necessary verbal variation of "West" and "East."

If the box is _clear_--that is, if all the ballots are white--the Master
then announces that the applicant has been duly elected, and the Secretary
makes a record of the fact.

But if the box is declared to be _foul_, the Master inspects the number
of black balls; if he finds two, he declares the candidate to be rejected;
if only one, he so states the fact to the lodge, and orders the Senior
Deacon again to prepare the ballot box, and a second ballot is taken in
the same way. This is done lest a black ball might have been inadvertently
voted on the first ballot. If, on the second scrutiny, one black ball is
again found, the fact is announced by the Master, who orders the election
to lie over until the next stated meeting, and requests the Brother who
deposited the black ball to call upon him and state his reasons. At the
next stated meeting the Master announces these reasons to the lodge, if
any have been made known to him, concealing, of course, the name of the
objecting Brother. At this time the validity or truth of the objections
may be discussed, and the friends of the applicant will have an
opportunity of offering any defense or explanation. The ballot is then
taken a third time, and the result, whatever it may be, is final. As I
have already observed, in most of the lodges of this country, a
reappearance of the one black ball will amount to a rejection. In those
lodges which do not require unanimity, it will, of course, be necessary
that the requisite number of black balls must be deposited on this third
ballot to insure a rejection. But if, on inspection, the box is found to
be "clear," or without a black ball, the candidate is, of course, declared
to be elected. In any case, the result of the third ballot is final, nor
can it be set aside or reversed by the action of the Grand Master or Grand
Lodge; because, by the sixth General Regulation, already so frequently
cited, the members of every particular lodge are the best judges of the
qualifications of their candidates; and, to use the language of the
Regulation, "if a fractious member should be imposed on them, it might
spoil their harmony, or hinder their freedom, or even break and disperse
the lodge."

Section VII.

_Of the Reconsideration of the Ballot._

There are, unfortunately, some men in our Order, governed, not by
essentially bad motives, but by frail judgments and by tota